Jason Sellers

At Laughing Seed, Jason Sellers worked as head chef, a post that sharpened the discipline and steadiness behind his cooking. The role mattered less as a marker than as a working room for technique, where direction and restraint began to take shape in the same kitchen. The length of that stretch matters in trade terms: it lets a cook refine decisions, repeat them, and let the kitchen settle into a clear point of view season after season.

In 2024, Sellers is chef at Plant in Asheville, North Carolina, while continuing as co-owner. That continuity since 2011 points to a kitchen practice built on daily service and long memory, with leadership that comes from staying present in the room rather than resetting it.

Ensalada César Chávez and berger are named as Jason Sellers’s signature dishes. The pairing suggests a direct style: dishes with recognizable form, clear naming, and enough character to register without ornament. They sit within a vegetarian practice that has become more defined over time.

James Beard Foundation semifinalist, Best Chef Southeast (2024) is the recognition attached to Sellers’s work. In trade terms, that kind of nod tends to follow repetition done well: a long-running restaurant, a steady hand, and a point of view that has held up over time.